After graduation, he specialized in infectious diseases with Prof. Vicente Amato Neto at the University of São Paulo and at the Hospital do Servidor Público de São Paulo. This work led him to develop an interest in immunology and over the following 20 years he worked at the Hospital do Câncer in São Paulo, specializing in oncology. He works as a medical professor at Universidade Paulista, but has taught also in several other institutions in Brazil and abroad, such as the New York Memorial Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Karolinska Institute, University of Hiroshima and the National Cancer Institute of Japan. One of his main fields of works has been AIDS, especially the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma. He has had an active role in prevention and educational campaigns about AIDS, being the first one to have a radio program on the subject. From 1989 to 2001 he volunteered to work as an unpaid physician in one of the largest jails of Brazil, Carandiru, in order to tackle the horrific AIDS epidemic raging among male inmates. As a result of this experience, he wrote a best-selling book describing the harrowing life of the inmates, which later became a motion picture (Carandiru, directed by …
Drauzio Varella
Información sobre le autore
- Fecha de nacimiento:
- 2 de mayo de 1943
Enlaces externos
After graduation, he specialized in infectious diseases with Prof. Vicente Amato Neto at the University of São Paulo and at the Hospital do Servidor Público de São Paulo. This work led him to develop an interest in immunology and over the following 20 years he worked at the Hospital do Câncer in São Paulo, specializing in oncology. He works as a medical professor at Universidade Paulista, but has taught also in several other institutions in Brazil and abroad, such as the New York Memorial Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Karolinska Institute, University of Hiroshima and the National Cancer Institute of Japan. One of his main fields of works has been AIDS, especially the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma. He has had an active role in prevention and educational campaigns about AIDS, being the first one to have a radio program on the subject. From 1989 to 2001 he volunteered to work as an unpaid physician in one of the largest jails of Brazil, Carandiru, in order to tackle the horrific AIDS epidemic raging among male inmates. As a result of this experience, he wrote a best-selling book describing the harrowing life of the inmates, which later became a motion picture (Carandiru, directed by Hector Babenco), winning accolades from both the public and specialized national and international critics. As the chairman of a cancer research institute at UNIP, Dr. Varella presently heads a research program on the potential of Brazilian Amazon medicinal plants for treating neoplasms and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This research is supported by the São Paulo Research Support Foundation.
(Português) Descendente de galegos e portugueses, Drauzio estudou medicina na Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. No início dos anos 70, já como médico, ele começou a trabalhar com o professor Vicente Amato Neto na área de moléstias infecciosas do Hospital do Servidor Público de São Paulo. Durante 20 anos, dirigiu também o serviço de imunologia do Hospital do Câncer (São Paulo) e de 1990 a 1992, o serviço de câncer do Hospital do Ipiranga. Deu aulas em várias faculdades do Brasil e em instituições em outros países, como o Memorial Hospital de Nova Iorque, a Cleveland Clinic (também nos Estados Unidos), o Instituto Karolinska de Estocolmo, a Universidade de Hiroshima e o National Cancer Institute, em Tóquio. Além do câncer, Drauzio Varella dedicou seu trabalho também ao estudo da AIDS. Foi um dos pioneiros no estudo dessa doença no Brasil, especialmente do sarcoma de Kaposi. Em 1989, iniciou um trabalho no Carandiru (nome popular da "Casa de Detenção de São Paulo"), investigando a prevalência do vírus HIV nos detentos. Até 2002, ano em que o presídio foi desativado, trabalhou como médico voluntário no local. O dr. Varella chegou a idealizar uma revista em quadrinhos, O Vira-Lata, como parte do plano de prevenção da AIDS na cadeia. Atualmente, apoiado pela Universidade Paulista e pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), dirige no Rio Negro um projeto de análise de plantas brasileiras, buscando obter extratos para testar experimentalmente no combate à bactérias resistentes a antibióticos e ao câncer.
